Cricket: Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Week to Unearth Talent

Coca-Cola® celebrates a great partnership through its sponsorship of the Coca-Cola® Khaya Majola Cricket Week. The 40 year milestone marks the commitment and dedication to the development of young cricketers across the country.

The Coca-Cola® Khaya Majola Cricket Week saw players like AB De Villiers, Graeme Smith, Faf du Plessis, Temba Bavuma, Quinton De Kock, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi who all played for their provincial teams at the Khaya Majola Cricket Week over the years.

There has been some memorable feats at previous Khaya Majola Cricket Weeks. Some of these special moments include:

Kagiso Rabada’s 2013 match at Kearsney College, when he hit 35 off 25 balls to help Gauteng beat Western Province in the “main game” of the tournament.

Daryn Dupavillon of KwaZulu-Natal Inland taking 7/18 against Northwest and 6/27 against Griqualand West in the same week in Potchefstroom in 2012.

In 2015, Anthony Dakin from Eastern Province scored the first ever T20 hundred against Northern Cape in Port Elizabeth.

At last year’s Cricket week, Gideon Peters of Northern took four wickets and ran a batsman out in a single over to dismiss Border for 12 in their second innings to win their time cricket match outright.

And another notable player was Sinethemba Qeshile of Border who scored one of the best centuries that many of the selectors had ever seen scored at the tournament.

The Coca-Cola® Khaya Majola Cricket Week plays an important part in Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) talent identification process. Talented players spotted at the tournament are channelled into the national under-19 system and into the elite academies in the provinces. The week tournament also provides a stage for the players who have come through CSA’s development structures to perform in top cricketing franchises.

Coca-Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week is not only about the very best players; however, receiving a school’s provincial cap is the aim for many schoolboy players. The tournament aims to promote development of young South Africans and the experience of competing with their peers. Life-long friendships have been made over the years at the Coca-Cola® Khaya Majola Week and will be made again this year.